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How to bag a Unesco tag? Agra learns from Ahmedabad

On September 11, a team of Agra’s civic body, UP’s tourism department and conservation experts from Delhi school of planning, visited Ahmedabad for two days to understand the inscription process – right from preparing a dossier, formulation of heritage bylaws, and implementation of a heritage management plan. The ‘Historic City of Ahmedabad’ was declared India’s first World Heritage City in July 7, 2017. It’s worth mentioning here that Shah Jahan built his life’s first monument, the Moti Shahi palace, in Shahibaug.

Additional municipal commissioner of Agra Municipal Corporation, Vijay Kumar, who led the delegation to Ahmedabad said, “Following SC direction, we were in Ahmedabad to understand the process of applying for a world heritage tag for Agra, the guidelines required and measures for the same.” The apex court had directed the UP government to designate Agra as a heritage city to conserve Taj Mahal and prepare a vision document for the Taj Trapezium Zone.

Agra team told to list tangible, intangible pieces of heritage

In its remarks the SC bench reiterated: “We have been told that no modern activity can take place once a city gets a heritage city... Ahmedabad was recently declared a heritage city, then what is the problem in Agra getting the tag? Ahmedabad is also a modern city, with modern amenities.’ The delegation held meeting at CEPT University on Wednesday with experts including Prof Saswat Bandopadyay of CEPT, PVK Nair from Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and PK Ghosh, chairperson of Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC). “Agra was a major city during Mughal era and it still boasts of a vibrant mix of both old and the new – very similar to Ahmedabad. We strongly suggested to the Agra team to list both tangible and intangible heritage during documentation and carry out awareness drives,” he said.